To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on your amazing finishes! Glad I got to stop and say hello after the 5K, it was an incredibly hectic couple of weeks for me so I was unable to make any of the other meet-ups.

Thanks and kudos to you as well! I was happy to see you as well. You were an easy one to spot in a crowd with your sweet Eeyore costume. No worries about not being able to make any of the other meet-ups and hopefully next year you'll be able to.

 

[dmross]

Congrats on a great race weekend! Impressive work.

 

[canglim52]

It's still too early to tell. To stay on track, I was hoping for a sub-3:15 up to this point. But circumstances have dictated differently. I know it will take near perfect weather conditions for it to happen because my margin for error will be small. But a lot can happen in 10 months of training. I should have an even better idea once the summer rolls around after this 5k/10k training.

Thanks!

It will be fun to follow! Your Improvement year over year has been so impressive. With the way you train, you'll get there!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on a great race weekend! Impressive work.

Thanks!

It will be fun to follow! Your Improvement year over year has been so impressive. With the way you train, you'll get there!

2017 will be an interesting year. 2016 was a testing year to see what did and didn't work. I was biding time until the fitness was where it needed to be. But 2017 is different, 2017 is game-time! I may not hit the goal this year, but I've always said that 2017 would be my 1st attempt at a sub-3 and I'm sticking to that. Thanks!

 

[ZellyB]

Congratulations on an amazing race weekend!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congratulations on an amazing race weekend!!!

Thanks!

I'm so behind on reading everyone's recaps. I feel like I got hit by a bus because I've been sick since Monday and now I've got a fever (102). Ugh!

 

[BikeFan]

Thanks! I saw you during the out-back prior to AK, but by the time I realized it we were past each other. Congrats to you as well!

Thanks. Despite choosing not to run it at a hard pace, it was still one of my more difficult marathons. I was not expecting the wind and the cold, and I really faded toward the end. Still, I had no real goal other than finishing and having fun, so I can't complain too much. It's been a reminder to keep with the training though, since I've got less than 100 days until Boston and Chicago in the fall, so gotta keep working on endurance!

 

[canglim52]

Thanks!

I'm so behind on reading everyone's recaps. I feel like I got hit by a bus because I've been sick since Monday and now I've got a fever (102). Ugh!

Feel better! Luckily it happened during your rest time... get it out of the way before speed training

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thanks. Despite choosing not to run it at a hard pace, it was still one of my more difficult marathons. I was not expecting the wind and the cold, and I really faded toward the end. Still, I had no real goal other than finishing and having fun, so I can't complain too much. It's been a reminder to keep with the training though, since I've got less than 100 days until Boston and Chicago in the fall, so gotta keep working on endurance!

Yea, that's Florida weather for us. The predicted temps just kept getting colder and colder and colder. How exciting that Boston is so close!

Feel better! Luckily it happened during your rest time... get it out of the way before speed training

Agreed, if I'm going to get sick it might as well be during my 2 week off period from training.

 

[DopeyBadger]

2017 Dopey Challenge Trip Report and Race Recaps



Training Plan
Training Recap
Prediction Contest

Sunday, January 1st – Flight to Disney World and DHS
Monday, January 2nd – EPCOT
Tuesday, January 3rd – Magic Kingdom
Wednesday, January 4th – Animal Kingdom and Expo
Thursday, January 5th – 5k and Magic Kingdom: Part 1 and Part 2
Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3
Saturday, January 7th – Half Marathon (?) and Magic Kingdom
Sunday, January 8th – Marathon and DHS: Part 1 and Part 2
Monday, January 9th – Flight home
Summary

Apologies as I fully intended to write notes throughout the trip for a great recap, but I got super busy with the actual vacation. So, this is almost exclusively from memory.

Next Post: Sunday, January 1st – Flight to Disney World and DHS

 

[DopeyBadger]

Sunday, January 1st – Flight to Disney World and DHS

It was an EARLY morning alarm prior to our trip to Disney World. I was up at 2:00am. I had my normal eggs and oatmeal breakfast. Gigi (my 2 yr old daughter) and Steph (my wife) were up and ready to go. G was super excited about the trip to Disney World. G had her “Disney ticket” in hand (which was a Mickey dollar). She had that in her hand almost the entire time from 3:30am until entering DHS at ~1pm.



My in laws: Heidi (SIL), Brian (BIL), Cyndi (MIL, and Gerhard (FIL) met at our house at 3:30am to start off the trip heading to the Milwaukee Airport. The trip was normal at about 1.5 hours. We met my mom, Carol, at the airport.

The flight was at 6:20am. I thought my cold was over and done with, just some lingering congestion. But the flight proved to me it was still present. My head felt like it was going to explode with the pressure change. At one point, I went to the bathroom to blow my nose and it literally exploded. I guess being congested and blowing your nose at 30,000 feet is not a good idea. It felt better, but it was probably not a good idea. It likely caused some damage to my nose because I had blood in my sneezes for the next several days.






We landed at 10:10am after a 3 hour flight, was to the Magical Express at 10:45am, the bus left at 11:12am and we arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village at 12:00. We had stayed at AKL-Kidani last year in a 2 bedroom Savannah view and had a great time. We decided to go with AKL again, but without the Savannah room to save about $200 per family. We were interested to see what kind of non-Savannah room we’d get.



Since the room wasn’t ready upon our arrival we headed out on our 1st theme park day to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS). Upon arrival, we were ready for lunch. So, the group split up and went in their own directions to find food. I ended up at Trolley Café (Starbucks). I had a pre-packaged Turkey Sandwich and Chicken Salad. It was decent, but way overpriced. Unfortunately, Gigi wasn’t herself and wouldn’t eat and was acting strange.

The party split-up and Steph, Heidi, and Brian went on TOT and RRC. But G, didn’t take too kindly to Steph going in a different direction then us. We took G to the Frozen Sing-A-Long. She fell asleep while we waiting in line. Once we got inside for the show, she was groggy and didn’t seem to be enjoying it. However, once Christoph showed up, then she perked right up. LOL! I really liked the show. It was my 3rd time seeing it. The guy CM was new to me and not as funny as the guy from the last two times, but it was still good.

Everyone met up and we had a FP for TSMM. Once G and Steph were back together she became very clingy and the theme of the trip was born, “Can I hold you mommy?” G constantly wanted to be picked up by Steph and rarely would let anyone else also do so. This became very tiring for Steph and unfortunately continued throughout the trip. The TSMM game went well for me. Steph was beating me throughout most of the game. But once we launched the green alien rocket and the robot came out I pulled ahead. I ended up scoring 222,000 points, which wasn’t a personal best but was a solid score. G told me after the ride she wanted to shoot and I told her if we rode it again that she could do it the next time.

Next we met Moana. While waiting in line, G kept saying “where is grandma tala?” None of us were really sure what she was referring to. “Tell Grandma what?” we would say to her. We just figured she was just getting deliriously tired. But after she said it like 5 times, I decided to look up Moana’s grandmother’s name. And to my absolute shock, it was Tala. Seriously, we had only seen that movie once and I can’t even remember how many times she was called “Tala” by name. Maybe once or twice at the most. Truly incredible memory. We had fun meeting Moana, but G was in too much shock to ask about Tala and instead asked where Maui was.






After Moana, we decided to leave DHS and head back to our AKL because our room was ready! When we got there we realized our room was 4th floor right outside the bus stop for Kidani Village. I was a bit concerned, but we conducted a test where we were all quiet and watched as the bus drove up, unloaded, loaded, and left. It was quite quiet. It wasn’t completely silent, but it was pretty darn sound-proof. The big bonus was instead of being a 15-20 min walk from bus stop to room, we were now a 5 min walk. So between the quiet room and 5 min walk to buses we all agreed it worked out well.






(These are stock photos. Although the only difference is the tv. It was a 60+ inch Samsung HD Hospitality tv which was BEAUTIFUL!)

The groceries from Garden Grocer were delivered on two bell carts. We had over 200 waters and about 100 bananas. We also ordered a crockpot from Target and had it delivered to the hotel. It was temporarily lost, but they eventually found it at Jambo house and delivered it as well. It was a Hamilton Beach 8.5 qt crock pot for only $35. Well worth the money, because it enabled us to cook meals while we were enjoying the theme parks.



We went to Boma for dinner. It’s an African buffet with lots of great choices. We really enjoyed it last year, but I didn’t enjoy it to its fullest extent. Last year we ate at Boma the night before the marathon, and I was really picky about my choices. Although I really enjoyed the peanut butter rice, so I was excited to have that again. Our wait was 45 minutes from check-in to seating. During that time, we decided to wait outside and happened upon the Jambo pool. G went super crazy when she saw the pool and really really wanted to go in. But since dinner was about to happen and it was like 7pm out, it was really hard to convince her it wasn’t happening. We took her to a park nearby instead and she became more tolerable, but again this would set up another issue for us. She really wanted to go swimming. We were finally seated. The food was good, but no peanut butter rice. G barely had any of her food. We decided after the meal we probably wouldn’t do Boma again.



We headed back to the room and some people watched the Green Bay Packer game. I headed to bed at 8:45pm.

Amount of sleep night prior – 7:18
Number of Steps – 13,942
Number of miles covered – 7.2 miles

Next Post: Monday, January 2nd – EPCOT

 

[DopeyBadger]

Monday, January 2nd – EPCOT

I was up at 6:30am. I had my normal eggs and oatmeal for breakfast. Because of the grocery delivery and full kitchen (with stove), it allowed me to have my normal breakfast routine.

We were on the bus at 8:15am to EPCOT to enjoy the extra magic hours. The security line was a bit crazy, but not too bad. My belt set off the metal detector. We made it to the new Frozen ride, prior to the park opening, at 8:40am. We only had to wait in line for 25 min. G was still in a bad mood about not swimming the night prior. She enjoyed the Frozen ride, but not as much as she should have. I thought it looked really cool and was well done. When we got out of the ride at 9:05, the wait was 75 min.

We decided to wait in line for the Anna/Elsa meet and greet. The wait was 60 min. But within a minute of waiting in line, G’s bad mood became too much. She really wanted to swim. So, Steph and I decided to cut the EPCOT adventure short after 5 min of the park being open. So, G, me and Steph all headed back to AKL. G and Steph went swimming and I went running.



I had tried to run at AKL last year but became very frustrated with the lack of space. The roads were made intentionally with no shoulder so it was unsafe to run on them. I stuck to the sidewalks and underground parking to get the mileage in. This was HAT #9 in preparation for the hot/humid Disney weekend runs. The Temperature + Dew Point (T+D) was 150, and I dressed like it was 150! The right calf and ankle felt ok, but they were definitely not 100%. I ended up getting in 5.6 miles in a calm and easy effort. Several snot rockets and nose blowing but it wasn’t too bad.

G finally seemed to be in a better mood after getting some swimming in. Gerhard and Cyndi cooked brats and chicken on a grill provided on the AKL property. It was a nice amenity to have. After lunch, everyone settled in and watched the Wisconsin vs Western Michigan Cotton Bowl football game. Wisconsin won the game and finally got that big bowl game win off their belt since the early 2000s Rose Bowls. Everyone had a taco as we were headed out the door for an early dinner.

We headed back to EPCOT. We did the Nemo ride, which G had fun on, but it’s pretty basic. Afterwards, we did the Crush ride. It’s easily one of my favorite Disney rides, because I love to see the kids react to Crush and vice-versa. G didn’t ask any questions but she was aware that he didn’t call on her. Saying multiple times as we left, that he never called on her. G also got her first penny press in the Aquarium. G purchased a baby Dory stuffed doll and a small “gold” trinket.

We met Mexico Donald. G had fun meeting him and they did the hot dog dance together.






We rode the new Frozen ride again via a FP. The wait was 105 minutes, but for us it was less than 10 minutes. The crazy part is that in the time we were inside the queue some of the people in the non-FP line seemed to never move. The FP line seems to really crush others ability to get on rides. Unfortunately, this time Elsa’s arms were broken and not moving so it took a little away from the experience.



We went and did the Anna/Elsa meet and greet and the wait was only 25 minutes. Question for the crowd. In the queue for this ride as entering the first room of the building there are roman numerals “carved” into the wood. They are sequential from 1 to 15 as they move upwards in the room. We did a google search but couldn’t find an explanation for them. Anyone know? The meet and greet was fun. G was peeking through the railings in anticipation. G was funny with Elsa asking her “Do you want to build a snowman?” Elsa showed G how to build a snowman with her hands as fists stacked on each other and then use her own face. Anna was good too.












We went to Japan and got G her annual pearl. Nothing special this year with a normal white pearl sized 7.5mm.



G got popcorn in American and Steph got ice cream.

We went and saw the toy trains. Unfortunately, only 1/3 were actually working. One was stuck in place and the other was tipped over on the track. People tried to help fix it but no such luck.

I had a sandwich in France since it had been so long since our early taco dinner. Others had fish and chips in the UK. My FIL purchased G a Marie the cat stuffed doll in France.

We’ve know from prior experience that G really doesn’t like fireworks. We were cutting it way too close on the timing of Illuminations starting. We had started towards the exit, but didn’t make it in time. So we jumped in the gift shop to try and distract her. It was one of the workers last night before heading back to college from the program. Cyndi had pre-decided with the rest of the group that she would meet them at the EPCOT ball so Steph, G, my mom, and I headed back to AKL.

About an hour after we got back to AKL, the rest of the group got home. Well except for Cyndi. Apparently, they thought she was with us. Steph sent a text, saying we were headed back to AKL. But she didn’t specify that Cyndi wasn’t with us and was waiting at the ball. No big deal, right? Just call Cyndi and let her know. Except Cyndi didn’t bring her phone. Eventually, about an hour later Cyndi arrived back at the hotel. Everyone had a good laugh about it and it became a running joke to ask everyone prior to leaving the room, “Magicband and phone?” I was in bed at 10:45pm.

Amount of sleep night prior – 9:36
Number of Steps – 24,812
Number of miles covered – 13.7 miles

Next Post: Tuesday, January 3rd – Magic Kingdom

 

[DopeyBadger]

Tuesday, January 3rd – Magic Kingdom

I was up at 6:30am. I had my normal eggs and oatmeal for breakfast.

We left for Magic Kingdom at 8:15am. The bus ride took about 30 minutes. The security line was insanely busy. But, eventually we got inside.






We found the fire truck by the castle and G got some nice pics.






We visited the Princess Boutique store and got some magic fairy dust.






We went straight to Adventure land and rode Aladdin’s carpet ride. G didn’t like to go up and down so we just stayed at the same height. She doesn’t like that pit of your stomach feeling with the sudden change in height.



Next, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s my MIL’s favorite ride, so G and her rode together. As G would say, Yo-ho-ho!



Steph and G got a Dole Whip.

Next we rode It’s a small world. While waiting in line Steph got a phone call from work. But it’s vacation, so if it’s important someone will leave a message. The ride was fun and G sang along. As we were exiting the clock in the ride entrance dinged and showed the time. That’s the first time in all my visits for it to do that. So, it was kind of cool to see. Definitely unexpected.

We were headed to Jungle Cruise when Steph got a text from her boss. One of her co-workers chose to end their life. It was a very sad moment. We knew it was eventual because of certain circumstances. But it is very sad no matter what. This person was now in a better happier place. This really took a lot out of us.

The Jungle Cruise was still holiday themed. It was as good as always. Although G doesn’t get any of the jokes.

We decided to head back to the hotel. Some of the group went swimming, others went to the nice workout room, and I decided to go running. The final HAT run (#10)! It was a T+D of 150, but it felt much hotter than the day before. It was a nice and easy run. The ankle and calf felt near 100% and since I was feeling good I decided to cut the run short. So, I ended it at 3 miles. Several snot rockets and nose blowing but it wasn’t too bad.

I got back to the room, had a chocolate milk and one of my homemade protein bars. I waited around for others to eat lunch. We were having shredded pork sandwiches made in the crock-pot. It was a little late lunch, but that was ok. It was delicious and much cheaper than any pork sandwich we could have had on property.

The plan was to head back to MK, but G was sleeping. So, the group broke up again. Some went to MK, some stayed in the room, and Gerhard and I went to the arcade at Kidani. They had some nice games, but the Nascar game was right up Gerhard’s alley. We went head to head on several occasions. I took the win in every matchup with some coming as close as a few tenths of a second. But I never gave up the title. We played some other games, but always came back to Nascar because it was the most fun. Towards the end, a kid showed up (maybe 8) that wanted to play the Nascar game. So Gerhard and I got up to let him play. I asked him if he wanted competition and he said yes. His dad was like, “Are you sure? He’s pretty good.” But the boy was up to the challenge. The race wasn’t close as I beat him by a few seconds. After the match-up we shook hands and said good game. He seemed to want to play again, but his dad let him know he didn’t have any more points left to play. So, I leaned over and swiped my card on his machine and said I’d pay for the rematch. The second race was much closer. I thought I was safe, but he came really close to beating me. He finished less than 0.1 seconds behind me. He seemed pretty happy and we shook hands again.



When Gerhard and I got back up to the room, it had been decided that we wouldn’t be going back to MK. G was having some #2 problems and it was best to try and relax to see if things got moving. So, we decided to visit the Community room at Kidani. It had a pool table, foosball table, some computers and video games, and some crafts. The CM was playing Lion King 2, which apparently is when Simba is older and has a daughter Kiara. But there is no Kion (the son from the new tv show Lion Guard). This really really bothered the CM and she brought it up many many times while we were in the room.

G really liked the ceramic Nemo bank and wondered if she could paint one. It was only $15-20 so we thought it would be a good relaxing thing to do. It was fun, but it really bothered me that Nemo was being mis-colored. So, I decided to buy a Dory too and paint it myself. G kind of lost interest after a few minutes of painting so my MIL finished it for her. I took about 2.5 hours to paint mine. When I turned it in to be put in the kiln, the CM asked me what I did for a living. I let her know science which takes many of the same traits as an artist: patience and attention to detail. The CM asked me if I’d paint more of their samples for them, but I said only if we have a bad weather day and end up back in the room.



During my time in the Community Room the Badgers played Indiana in basketball and they won the game. Hooray again! I had a chicken sandwich and the normal “lunch” meal for dinner. Everyone else had some pizzas made in the oven. I was in bed by 10:00pm.

Amount of sleep night prior – 7:41
Number of Steps – 12,362
Number of miles covered – 7.0 miles

Next Post: Wednesday, January 4th – Animal Kingdom and Expo

 

[DopeyBadger]

Wednesday, January 4th – Animal Kingdom and Expo

I was up at 6:45am. I had my normal eggs and oatmeal for breakfast.

We left for Animal Kingdom at 8:45am and the bus ride only took about 5 min. As we started to walk in, it started to rain a little bit. We agreed it set the ambiance of being in a rain forest. The rain stopped after a few short moments and we were headed to the safari ride.

G had a really great time on the safari. She loved seeing all the animals and was trying really hard to spot Bunga (Honey Badger) from the Lion Guard. We also got the treat of seeing the brand new baby elephant on it’s first day in the safari. It was pretty cool to see. I think when G gets older we’ll have to do some of the add-on things for the safari. She really loves the animals.

After the safari, we saw some monkeys swinging. G thought they were pretty funny. We then made our way over to Everest so Steph, Heidi, and Brian could ride it. We did a better job of distracting G as Steph walked away and there seemed to be less separation anxiety. They had fun on Everest.

We headed over to the Dino carnival area and G was sad she was too short for the spinner roller coaster ride. Although, I’m not sure she’d actually enjoy it since she doesn’t like to go up and down on Aladdin’s.

G decided she wanted to get her face painted instead. She had said multiple times that morning she wanted to be a tiger. So, I was a bit surprised when she chose to look like Tiana. But that’s what she wanted so that’s what we did. She did well with the painting process only coming close to touching her face once. But she was very patient and did a great job.










My mom and I left Animal Kingdom for the expo at 11:10am. We made it back to our hotel at 11:30am in time to make it on the expo bus to WWOS. I was happy to see Cyndi from MEARS was assigned to AKL again. She was our MEARS rep last year too and I remembered her from the year prior. We arrived at the expo and as my mom and I were walking up I spotted my first DIS’er. It was @StarGirl11. But by the time I realized it, it was too late.

My mom and I got in line to pick up our bib. We only waited a few minutes in line and then headed down to the ground floor to pick up our bibs. No lines downstairs and it was a quick pick-up. My mom got her bib and then I got mine. Picked up my shirts and then we headed upstairs to the baseball field area to get G’s Kid’s race bibs. But once I got to the area where the Kids’s race pickup was last year it was the 10k this year. So, then I checked the map and ugh…. Kid’s race pickup was in the same place as my mom’s and mine’s bib. So, we got back in line and headed back downstairs to get the bibs. This year we bought G both a Friday and Saturday Kids race bib because of bad weather the last 2 years she has participated. So, the plan was to choose the best weather day and run on that day. Based on her bib #s of 213 and 214 I anticipated there wouldn’t be a difference in the appearance of the bibs. But to my surprise they were very different. Different color pallet and clearly said “Friday” and “Saturday” on them. So, it only confirmed to me going forward that if G did a Kids race we’d have to continue to choose the best weather day by buying multiple bibs.

We left the bib expo location and headed to the real expo with all of the merchandise. The line wasn’t too bad around 12:00-12:15pm. My mom took a quick glance at the raw threads merchandise as we passed by and then we headed to pick up her marathon shirt. After picking that up, we headed to the official RunDisney merchandise area. It seemed this year they had a queue to get in the merchandise area and then the purchasing queue was within the merch area. This made so much more sense to me. It enabled them the ability to crowd control by slowing letting people in, and it allowed them to better protect against theft since it seemed way too easy in year’s prior for people just to leave the purchasing queue with their stuff without paying for them.

Waiting in line for the RunDisney area easily took the longest amount of time. I’d guess we waited in line for about 30ish minutes. Not terrible. I recognized one lady in line from last year’s race. Couldn’t remember where from, maybe corral C of the marathon, but since I couldn’t remember I decided not to say anything. Once inside we did a quick lap down each aisle. I got a 2017 runDisney Mickey, Dopey I Did It, Dopey Magnet, Marathon Magnet (for @Dis5150), and a Future Runner shirt for G. I planned to buy more if something met my fancy, but nothing else did it for me. So, my mom and I got in the purchasing queue. As I was standing in line I realized we didn’t get a Kids race magnet for G. I did a quick look from line and was unable to see any Kids magnets, so I decided to pass on getting out of line.

We took a quick lap of the rest of the expo floor. My mom liked many of the raw threads shirts, but didn’t pull the trigger on any of them. We both liked the shirts in the champion area, but neither of us pulled the trigger. We passed by Jeff Galloway’s table and I helped explain to my mom the run/walk method. Primarily, how they would run for 1 minute and walk for 30 seconds to run a 5:00 marathon. She wasn’t interested in doing that so we decided she could keep an eye on them, but to not stay with them. As we were heading out, I grabbed some Cigna posters to make the DIS pre and post race meeting signs.




We just made it back to Kidani in time for our 2pm reservation at Sanaa. We have never eaten there but heard great things about their naan bread service. The others had just finished up swimming so they were hungry and ready to eat. They also met Pocahontas while we were at the expo.



Our waiter was from Jersey and was super frazzled. He had another table with 15 people at it who requested separate checks. They also had switched some seats so he kept getting the checks wrong. It seemed to take him about 45 minutes to get it figured out. During that time, we were pretty much ignored, but we didn’t blame him too much because we could tell pretty clearly he was having a hard time. We decided to go with 3 bread services at our table and he wanted us to only get 2 because they each served 5, but we wanted to make sure everyone got all the different options of bread and sauces. I also ordered the Salad sampler, and the Tandoori Chicken open faced sandwich (chicken on top of naan bread). Simply put, it was all delicious. This easily went down as the best meal of the trip. Not a single thing wasn’t good. I got the dessert trio for dessert as another sampler. Again, it was fantastic. We all decided that if we did another dining meal for the next trip, Sanaa would definitely be on the short list.








After our late lunch, we headed back to Animal Kingdom to watch the Lion King show. The show was fantastic as always. We were in the warthog section. The odd thing is the monkeys didn’t do their performance. We guessed that since it was the last show of the day maybe they were extra tired from pervious performances and thus they decided to cancel that part of the show. No big deal as the show was still really fun to watch.



After the show, everyone wished me well and I headed back to the hotel. I put all my finishing touches on my clothing choices and the DIS poster. I ate a quick chicken sandwich and banana. And then it was time for bed at 7:55pm. Tomorrow was the 5k and the beginning of the Sextuple PR Dopey Challenge! My attempt to PR all 4 individual races (5k, 10k, Half Marathon, and Marathon) and the 2 associated challenges, Goofy (HM +M) and Dopey (5k+10k+HM+M) as all non-first time attempts.

Amount of sleep night prior – 8:45
Number of Steps – 16,577
Number of miles covered – 8.6 miles

Next Post: Thursday, January 5th – 5k and Magic Kingdom

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thursday, January 5th – 5k and Magic Kingdom: Part 1

Race day was finally here! Months of prep and training. How would my cold effect my running? Was my calf and ankle 100%? Would I have any of the same bone pain as the last time I ran a race (in October)?

I was up at 2:45am. I had dreamt of a 20:29, so I was ready to see if dreams really do come true in Disney World. I got showered, dressed and ready to go. I had my last drink of water at 3:00am, and ate a banana and PB bagel. I try and time my water consumption to two hours prior to the last time I’ll hit a porta-potty. Since the corrals open at 5am, I knew that’s when I’d have my last chance prior to the race start at 6am.

I was on the first bus at 4:00am and headed to ECPOT to the starting line. I arrived at 4:15am. I walked through security with no wait and headed over to gear check. I dropped off my gear check bag with sweatpants, sweatshirt, compression calf sleeves, chocolate milk, PB square, and water. I had my blanket, water bottle and DIS sign still with me. I headed over to the pre-meeting spot and started to see some familiar faces at the DIS meeting. I got to meet @MommaoffherRocker, @camaker, @mrsgoofy, @surfde22, @dburg30, @croach, @Z-Knight, and @Baloo in MI (from memory so apologies if I’m forgetting someone). It was nice to put faces to usernames and chat with some friendly people prior to the race. Thanks to @mrsgoofy for your kind words prior to the race!

Once the corrals opened at 5am, I wished everyone well and made my way to the corrals. I took my last bathroom break and made my way into corral A. I lined up as close to the front as possible, and then placed my blanket on the fence to mark my spot. At this point, I noticed a Nemo and Dory in corral B and it was @pixarmom and @mateojr. It was fun to see them. We wished each other well.

I found some empty space in corral A and started my dynamic warm-up. I saw @croach in the corral and we wished each other well. Since it was within 60 minutes of the race starting the warmup would have the desired effect, but since it was not within 15 minutes it wouldn’t really add any additional fatigue. The goal was to do a light warm-up jog and then do a few strides to prime the muscles for a good 5k. However, as time progressed it became more and more apparent the corral was filling up. So, I cut the warm-up a tad short and headed to my spot in the waiting area of corral A.

When I got back to my spot there was a guy from the UK there. I chatted it up with him. He said Americans put on the best races. He was silly and nice. He was going to go for a “good for age” time in the marathon so he could run the London marathon again. I explained to him that it was on my bucket list, and he said if I could find a way to do it, that I definitely had to. I let him know my goal of 6 PRs and he thought that it was pretty cool. He asked me what times I had to beat in each race and I told him. He agreed with me that I am clearly endurance based because my 5k/10k times are far less superior than my HM/M times. As we started the walk to the starting line, we found out about the “mini-waves”. It was the first I had heard of it, but it sounded like a great idea. We saw Carissa (runDisney announcer), and then he did the unthinkable of grabbing her head as he passed by. Carissa seemed shaken by it. I’m actually surprised he didn’t get escorted off by security, but I’m not sure anyone knew who did other than me. I ended up about 8-10 people from the starting line. A little further back then I wanted to be, but I would see what would happen. And then it was 6:00am! Ready… Set… Go!!!

Last year’s Dopey 5k – 21:49
5k PR to beat – 21:49
Predicted Time – 19:57

*As a reminder, all mile splits provided are for the purpose of reading. During the actual race, I attempted to remain blinded to my pace and run purely by effort.

MILE – SPLIT (PREDICTED TIME)
Mile 1 – 6:55 (21:51)
The race started off quickly. And then suddenly slowed down as I found some walkers about 10 feet beyond the starting line. Between them and the photopass photographer snuggled next to the fence it caused a bit of a tripping hazard. I made it through there without issue and we hit our first turn. It was still fairly congested and then I saw someone trip over a cone as they got to close to the edge. Then it appeared a few other people tripped over them. From my quick glance, it seemed everyone got up unscathed, but since Dopey is a multi-day event I just tried to bide my time for safe movements so that I didn’t have any accidents.

Mile 2 – 6:29 (21:10)
After mile 1 passed the course congestion definitely opened up. I had more room to make moves and power through the moment. I don’t really remember anything particular.

Mile 3 – 6:36 (21:04)
I don’t really remember anything particular other than snot rockets.

Mile 3.16 – 1:01 (21:02)
All I remember was having a solid effort to the finish line, but not pushing too hard.

Final time – 21:02






The run was very solid. The weather was very cooperative with a Temperature + Dew point (T+D) of 113. I think not lining up right on the start line cost me a little, but it was good to see a solid time throughout. Maybe about 20 seconds better is the best I could have expected though if toeing the line.

Official PRs: 1
5k – 21:02

Unofficial PRs: 4
400m - 1:31
1k - 4:00
1 mile - 6:26
2 mile - 13:08

I produced my two fastest miles ever at 6:29 and 6:36, so I can’t really complain.

Once I finished the run, I grabbed my gear check bag and headed over to the finish line. Since I finished my run before others had even started it meant the bus transportation back to AKL wasn’t even running yet. This is because the bus route and race route share the same stretch of road. So, it provided me the opportunity to cheer on other DIS’ers if I could pick them out of the crowd. I put on my compression calf sleeves. I chatted with @Baloo in MI, was able to see @Barca33Runner cross the finish line in his Eeyore costume, and saw @Weluvdisny cross the line as well.

I got on a bus at 7:10am and chatted it up with a guy from the Northeast. We were both concerned with the predicted weather on Saturday (thunderstorms) and Sunday (cold). I was back to the hotel at 7:40am where my mom met me at the AKL bus stop.

Next Post: Thursday, January 5th – 5k and Magic Kingdom: Part 2

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thursday, January 5th – 5k and Magic Kingdom: Part 2

I got cleaned up, ate my eggs and oatmeal and we were out the door by 9:30am to do some kids activities at AKL. In one spot, we learned about Flamingos and Pelicans. G had fun playing with the toys, but I’m not sure she really understood the concepts of how Flamingos and Pelicans filter out the water when eating their food. The other spot was a Jenga game that taught about the ecosystem, but G had a really tough time not playing with the blocks.



After the kids activities, we headed to the pool for a brief time. It was my first and only pool experience. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as warm as it had been the last few days (60-70s instead of 80s). I just tried to stay on the heated pool vents in the pool to stay warm. At least the AKL pool is heated!

After swimming, everyone reconvened in the hotel room for lunch. Brian had played golf and others just relaxed. I had my normal chicken sandwich and other lunch items (banana, apple, PB square, etc.). While eating lunch, I checked out the DIS boards and saw @Ariel484’s picture from the security entrance of Magic Kingdom. Since our plans had us going there already, we decided to bite the bullet and wish for the best.

So, we headed to MK, and dressed up G as Minnie with “Minnie ears” since we were meeting Mickey. The security line was insanely busy and an ominous sign of what was inside. Heidi ad Brian headed to the monorail to get a drink at one of the resorts. The rest of us got through and made our way to meet Mickey. This is another one of my favorite things to do in Disney.






It’s a quiet meet and greet and Mickey talks to you. G had a lot of fun. Mickey said it was nice to see a friend from the clubhouse (Minnie) and that he loved her ears. Then, they did the hotdog dance together. Lastly, G asked Mickey where “Toodles” was from the clubhouse. Mickey responded that Toodles was in New York City at Time Square. I thought that was a very odd response and I still haven’t quite figured that one out yet.



We headed over to the entrance of frontier land near the bridge to scope out a spot for the afternoon parade. On the way, G saw the stage show and really wanted to watch it. So, we stopped for a moment and watched Tiana, Rapunzel, and Anna/Elsa. G had a lot of fun. Cyndi and Gerhard secured some great viewing spots for the parade. In the mean-time we were going to do G’s silhouette, but the line was too long so we were going to wait until later in the trip.



Heidi and Brian didn’t make it back in time to catch the parade. G decided she would take some “cheeses” with the camera. Looks like she has a knack for photo taking. The parade was pretty cool. It looked like G enjoyed it as well.






After the parade, we headed through all of the parade traffic to the Haunted Mansion. Our FP was about to expire but we made it just in time. Although we got an unfortunate surprise in the 1st HM room when we walked in. Someone had clearly peed in the room. Don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it was quite obvious that it had happened. Gross! The ride was good, but we got no emotion from G.

The park was really congested and traveling between Peter Pan and It’s a small world was really difficult. We decided to do the carousel of progress since it couldn’t be busy. To our surprise, it actually had a slight wait. I’ve never seen that before. During the show, a baby was crying. Eventually, the parents got up and used the exit and some people started clapping. It was actually disturbing to me that people would clap about this. I couldn’t imagine the feeling the parents had when they walked out.

After the COP, we headed on the smoker’s pathway because it was less congested to get to the Fantasyland train depot. We planned to take that to the front and then leave the park. But once we got there we realized it was a 40-minute wait. So, we just walked to the front instead and left the park.

We headed over to the pool where they were making s’mores on a fire!



We made our way to the community room and picked up the Nemo and Dory ceramics. The CM who gave them to us (a different one) asked me whether I’d be willing to paint more of their samples. LOL! Guess my reputation proceeds me. Everyone had beef stroganoff for dinner (again made in the crockpot). Some people headed to the pool and I decided to head to bed at 7:00pm.





Amount of sleep night prior – 6:50
Number of Steps – 22,098
Number of miles covered – 12.6 miles

Next Post: Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 1

 

[DopeyBadger]

Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 1

I was up at 2:15am. I got showered, dressed and ready to go. I had my last drink of water at 2:30am, and ate a banana and PB bagel.

I was on the first bus at 3:30am and headed to ECPOT to the starting line. I arrived at 3:45am. I walked through security with no wait and headed over to gear check. I dropped off my gear check bag with sweatpants, sweatshirt, compression calf sleeves, chocolate milk, PB square, and water. I had my blanket, handheld Nathan water bottle, water bottle, E-Gel and DIS sign still with me. It was a touch colder this morning and I was wishing I had another piece of clothes on. But I was able to tolerate it. I headed over to the pre-meeting spot and started to see some familiar faces at the DIS meeting. I got to meet @MommaoffherRocker, @camaker, @mrsgoofy, @surfde22, @dburg30, @croach, @CheapRunnerMike, @rteetz, @Disney at Heart, and @Baloo in MI (from memory so apologies if I’m forgetting someone). It was nice to have a few more people join us prior to this race.

Once the corrals opened at 4:30am, I wished everyone well and made my way to the corrals. I took my last bathroom break and made my way into corral A. I lined up as close to the front as possible, and then placed my blanket on the fence to mark my spot. Unfortunately, I was even further back then the 5k.

I found some empty space in corral A and started my dynamic warm-up. I saw @disney at Heart’s husband in the corral and we wished each other well. Since it was within 60 minutes of the race starting the warmup would have the desired effect, but since it was not within 15 minutes it wouldn’t really add any additional fatigue. The goal was to do a light warm-up jog and then do a few strides to prime the muscles for a good 10k. However, as time progressed it became more and more apparent the corral was filling up even more so than the day prior. I think this was because of the mini-waves. So, people were trying to crowd the start. So, I cut the warm-up a way short and headed to my spot in the waiting area of corral A.

As we were let out of our corral on the walk to the starting line I saw @Disney at Heart again in Corral B and we waved to each other. Chatted with another guy right at the starting line. He recognized me from the day prior and he liked my blanket. I told him I had several for throw-away purposes. Another guy near us said his kids were out at the bar until 2am, and I was like I got up at 2:15am?!?! I said where are they now, and he said right here getting ready to race. LOL! They seemed peppy! Lastly, the people behind me were wearing full on Mike and Sully costumes and they were great! So, gave them kudos as well!

I was about 15-20 people back from the starting line this time. And before I knew it, it was 5:30am! Ready… Set… Go!!!

Last year’s Dopey 10k – 44:57
10k PR to beat – 44:31
Predicted Time – 40:31

*As a reminder, all mile splits provided are for the purpose of reading. During the actual race, I attempted to remain blinded to my pace and run purely by effort.

MILE – SPLIT (PREDICTED TIME)
Mile 1 – 7:41 (48:05)
The race was way more congested for the start of the 10k then it was for the 5k. I really had to just continue to stay patient, not surge, not zig-zag trying to pass people. I knew eventually it would have to open up because many of the people around me weren’t planning on going as fast as me. As we hit the first mile marker it was still congested, but I knew that things would start to spread out once I hit the first highway overpass.

Mile 2 – 6:50 (45:26)
Stay calm. Keep breathing in check. Maintain effort. And during that first uphill, keep the head up to keep the breathing airways open. Once I hit the 1.5 mile mark, then we finally were on the highway and the roads were wide open. I was liking my effort and felt it was very solid.

Mile 3 – 6:46 (44:24)
Still feeling good. Snot rockets, but good.

Mile 4 – 6:40 (43:44)
Still feeling good. Snot rockets, but good.

Mile 5 – 6:47 (43:29)
Around this point in the race I could tell it was getting tougher. I was doing my best to push through the fatigue. Manage breathing. Keep good form. You’re doing great. I found a guy in a black singlet and did my best to attach myself to his shadow.

Mile 6 – 6:56 (43:28)
Keep pushing. You’ve got this. Ignore the fade. Doing great!

Mile 6.26 – 1:41 (43:25)
Finish line in sight. Don’t kick. Just keep the effort smooth and controlled through the finish line. Smile for pictures!

Final Time – 43:25








The run was very solid. The weather was very cooperative with a T+D of 100 (near perfect conditions). I think not lining up right on the start line cost me a lot in this race, but it was good to see a solid time throughout. The question is there was a definite fade at the back end of the race, so did the slow first mile allow the time to be the best it could be. It’s hard to say one way or the other. Best guess is the slow start probably cost me at least a few seconds, but not close to the 40:31 I projected. I wouldn’t have Age Group awarded anyways because there were some seriously fast runners in my division.

Official PRs: 1
10k – 43:25

Unofficial PRs: 0

Overall Standing: 104th
Gender Standing: 95th
Division Standing: 14th
Number of Finishers: 11292

Once I finished the run, someone called out, “Hey, are you DopeyBadger/Billy?” I said yes, and the woman introduced herself as Sarah. She reads the DISboards but doesn’t participate in the conversation (a lurker). I told her it was nice to meet a fellow DIS’er. She was from Canada. So, if Sarah from Canada is reading, Hello! Looks like you finished as the 5th female overall for Dopey cumulative ranking (a guess based on us finishing 10k close to each other), so congrats and well done!

I grabbed my gear check bag and did some stretches in the parking lot. Drank my chocolate milk and ate my PB square. Saw @croach and he seemed happy with his effort. I took my time stretching and recovering from the race. I walked to the bus and found the MEARS attendant by it. He congratulated me and then told me I could get on the bus. I said to avoid tightening up I’d just stay outside the bus stretching until he was ready to send the bus off. So, I just laid on the ground doing various stretches for 10 minutes. I also put on my compression calf sleeves for recovery. Then he was ready to send it off, so I got up and he wished me luck on the half marathon. I turned around and said, “Thanks, if they let us run it.” Didn’t realize how prophetic that would end up being.

I was on the bus and back to the AKL by 7:10am. A little earlier than I had let the family know so no one was at the bus station to meet me. I headed upstairs and made it to our room. No magicband so I just knocked, and knocked, and knocked, and no one answered… I just sat on a bench outside the room for about 15 minutes and then finally my mom came out to head to the bus station. She saw me and let me in.

Next Post: Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 2

 

[DopeyBadger]

Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 2

I got cleaned up and ate my normal breakfast of eggs and oatmeal.

It was G’s raceday as well and we FINALLY had a good weather day! Hooray! We left AKL at 9:45am and was at WWOS in no time for her 11:00am start. My mom went inside the expo again to look for cold weather gear since the weather looked more and more confirmed as cold and she just wasn’t happy about it one bit. She wanted 70s-80s for the marathon, not 30-40s. Apparently, the rep she talked to at Fit2Run wasn’t aware of the upcoming cold snap and thought my mom was crazy. The rep explained they didn’t have any cold weather gear.

Everyone else headed down to the WWOS track for the Kids race. We got down there and G literally started doing warm-ups. No one told her to do anything, but she started doing sprints in a straight line to the fence and back. It was so funny to watch. Then she wanted to put some Body glide on her legs. Gotta keep from chafing! She played with a little boy who was a little younger than her. They seemed to have fun. She drank some water from her running bottle and then it was almost time to go.







The announcers warned us that the course was going to be crowded because some people from Saturday’s Kids races were likely there because of the predicted thunderstorms. So, while the bibs were different, in the case of inclement weather they were willing to let other runners participate on a different day. They told us to stay patient and remember that today was for the kids. They lined the kids up in groups of 10 to keep the actual race experience as seamless as possible. So, we ended up being in the second group of kids. Another funny thing G kept doing was getting in a sprinting stance. No one told her to do it. And no other kid around was doing it either, so my best guess is that she remembers it from the youtube track videos we’ve watched together or from the Olympics. Just hilarious! Ready…Set….Go!!!





Previous 100m PR – 1:25.7

G got off to a solid start. For the first 50m or so she really seemed into it, as she was ahead of both Steph and I. Then around 50m, she turned around and started to say “Can I hold you mommy?” and Steph sprinted past her to coax her into catching her. Then, G kept going and was trying to catch mom. Around 75m she started to lose interest again and then she saw Chip/Dale (can’t remember which) and I said look G, Go slap hands. And she sprinted hard into the finish line.

Finish time – 0:57.6









Wahoo! Go G on your new 100m PR! She definitely enjoyed the experience way more this year than the previous two (100m and Diaper dash) and I think that was because 1) she knew what was happening and 2) the weather was near perfect. She grabbed her medal (she actually didn’t want the person to put it on her and rather she wanted to choose it from the rack). She thanked the volunteer and then went and got a banana.

Next Post: Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 3

 

[DopeyBadger]

Friday, January 6th – 10k and Kids Race and EPCOT: Part 3

We headed to the bus depot of WWOS. On the way, we ran into @surfde22 and his brother as they headed to do the Kids race as well. I wished them well and they asked how G did. How did the Kids race go for you @surfde22? Instead of heading to the AKL bus we headed to the Boardwalk bus so we could make our way to EPCOT. I brought a sandwich and my normal lunch with me to the Kids race so I could get a meal in. We got on the bus and I ate lunch. We got off at the Yacht club and walked over to the EPCOT entrance. No wait, and we walked right in.

We headed over to the UK and met Mary Poppins. G hid a toy from her and then surprised her with it. Mary Poppins asked her if she kept her room clean. G asked her where the penguins were. I don’t remember Mary’s response. After Mary Poppins, we headed into the UK toy shop and got G’s passport stamped. The person doing the stamps said they like G’s dress and we explained to them it was a “Princess Gigi dress”. We were concerned about doing the Princess Storybook Lunch in Norway because we would meet so many princesses so we couldn’t just choose one. So, we bought her own special dress and convinced her it was a princess Gigi dress to meet the royalty. They also really liked Steph’s Aristocats custom shoes I had made for her as a special gift for finishing the 2015 WDW Half Marathon after her pregnancy with G.






Afterwards, we went to Canada and got another passport stamp.

The group had FP to Soarin, but G isn’t tall enough. So, we decided to strategically try and break apart. Steph was pushing the stroller and then slowly backed away. And then I pushed the stroller and they turned towards the Land and I took G towards the Baymax Meet and Greet. Success and G didn’t even notice that Steph was gone!

We headed inside to meet Baymax. On several occasions G asked me to pick her up (but referred to me as mom). She was either delirious again or just stuck on repeat. Regardless, I picked her up and she told me she loved me. Melted my heart for sure! After about a 10-minute wait we got to meet Baymax. G gave him a big hug and then she and I got a picture with him. She was disappointed because she wanted to give him a fist-bump and for him to say “Fa-la-la-la-la”. But he didn’t talk, so she was a little disappointed.



We got in line to meet Joy and Sadness, but decided it was too long so we went and met up with everyone as they left Soarin. I headed to the DIS meetup scheduled at Hurricane Hannah’s at 2pm hosted by @Keels and @FFigawi. It was fun to meet everyone in a relaxed non-pre race meeting. From memory, there was @Keels, @FFigawi, @camaker, @CheapRunnerMike, @Ariel484, @BikeFan, @croach, Jake and Sarah from the UK, @girliea, @mrsgoofy, and at least one other guy that I’m blanking on (again apologies if I’m forgetting someone as this is from memory several days later). Lots of great conversation and a pleasure to meet you all!

Unfortunately, I had to leave the meet-up at 2:40pm to rush over to the Norway princess lunch. I made it at 2:59pm for our 3pm reservation. We met Belle as she greeted us to our lunch. Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella came to our table for meet and greets. The intent of this meal was to meet many princesses without having to wait in lines. Although the downside was it was very loud and the conversation with the princesses seemed rush. In addition, we got seated with a window in the background so the pictures had a sunlight exposure in them. The food was ok (I had the pork tenderloin) the salad buffet was ok, and the dessert was ok. But for the price, everything was not up to cost/benefit. Although, towards the end of our lunch they did a princess processional where all the kids marched through the dining hall with the princesses. G did so well. She followed Ariel perfectly and waved as she passed all the different guests. She waved to us too as she passed us. It was so adorable. Overall because of the cost, we all decided this meal was definitely not worth it.















We tried to meet Mulan after the meal, but the line was super long so we skipped it. Instead, we headed to the exit. As we passed the ball I noticed this lovely couple enjoying their exit of EPCOT. They stopped to take a selfie in front of the ball and I offered to help them. It was Jake and Sarah from the DIS meetup from the UK. Kind of funny to see them. In addition, as I exited EPCOT I ran into @Z-Knight on the benches outside the park. It was cool to catch up with him on how the weekend was going and to hear his goals for the upcoming future.

We went back to AKL. Everyone went to the pool and I watched everyone swim. Then everyone headed back to EPCOT and I was in bed at 6:15pm to be ready for the half marathon the next morning.

Amount of sleep night prior – 7:14
Number of Steps – 28,644
Number of miles covered – 16.9 miles





Oh wait…. What’s that… the day wasn’t over…

I just so happened to see a blurb right before heading to bed at 6:15pm that there would be a weather update at 7pm. So, I decided that if I was awake at 7, I’d look. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it until the morning. I just so happen to wake up, checked my watch, and saw it was 7. So, I jumped on the DIS and watched in shock as the news started to trickle in. First someone posted a “Delayed” sign from a hotel lobby. Then a “cancelled” sign from a hotel lobby. Then others started to confirm, the cancelled information. Yet, nothing on official channels yet (facebook or twitter). Then some started to see it on Facebook, but I was still unable to find it. Then I checked the “event” tab for runDisney and there it was: Cancelled. They had decided to cancel the half marathon because of the threat of lightening during the race time. I knew it was coming. I figured maybe a delay or a short course, but cancelling. That was tough to swallow. It didn’t seem real. It meant the quest for 6 PRs over the weekend was over…

I read some of the runDisney facebook comments and they were vicious. I was happy to see the DIS community was much calmer and understanding. I posted on Strava that the Sextuple PR Challenge was over. I texted Steph and she heard the same news as well. Disappointed and then I decided to go to bed. I decided to try and take advantage and catch up some much needed sleep. I was in bed at 8:09pm.

Next Post: Saturday, January 7th – Half Marathon (?) and Magic Kingdom

 

[DopeyBadger]

Saturday, January 7th – Half Marathon (?) and Magic Kingdom

I really took advantage of sleeping in as I didn’t wake up until 7:11am with a total of 4:16 of deep sleep. It felt really good to get 11 hours of sleep and I felt refreshed. At midnight, I heard a pretty loud lightning strike, and then again at 7:40am there were 3 more. So, it became very clear to me that it was absolutely necessary to cancel the race. It would have been very unsafe to have the runners out there at that time. I would have been finished with my half marathon by 7:40am, but most of the runners and volunteers would have been in a very dangerous position. I was happy to hear of stories of runners out their doing their own 13.1 miles and the comradery of the running community through the support and other stories. I was also very concerned that some runners weren’t take the lightning seriously enough. The strikes can occur as far as 10-15 miles from the storm. Especially in Florida, if there’s a threat you need to take it seriously because it could cost you your life. So, I was happy to not hear of any stories of things going wrong for anyone too.

I decided to save my energy and I didn’t run a half marathon on Saturday. My personal philosophy is that race day is merely the victory lap for all the training. I’ve done the Dopey Challenge 3 times prior. The HM wouldn’t be official so I didn’t want to use energy during a training run. So, I made the personal choice to not run the HM on my own. More so than anything else, I didn’t want to try and carve out 2 hours out of our vacation schedule for me to get in a training run. Especially since I wasn’t willing to start the run until it was a little safer outside.

The big decision was what to wear for the marathon on Sunday. It was clearly going to be cold, but I wasn’t sure if I should wear singlet and shorts or long sleeve and shorts since the wind chill was to be 30s. My cutoff for singlet for training is 40. So, it was a close decision.

I waited to make the decision until bed time. I got up and started my routine with eggs and oatmeal. Because the weather was awful (wind, rain, cold), others took G to some more Kids activites at AKL. I hung around the room and got ready for the day. We said goodbye to Heidi and Brian as they left to go back home. Gerhard had unfortunately caught the sickness that was going around in Florida (coughing, headache, general achiness).

We headed to Magic Kingdom around 1pm. But as soon as we got off the bus it started to pour rain. The last we had checked the forecast it seemed like the rain was over. So, no one really came prepared for rain. We started to walk to security and then, we decided to not. The rain looked like it was going to end soon, but most of us were soaked from our two minutes out in the rain. Also, because Gerhard was sick we decided it was best to head back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, Gerhard decided he would stay back to try and rest up. We put the clothes in the laundry machine (another bonus of our room) to dry them. We headed back to MK when the rain was done about a 1.5 hour later.

The wait times before we arrived seemed low, but that was just because everyone else was avoiding the park because of the rain too. G watched the stage show again. Then we rode the carousel. We wanted to ride on Cinderella’s horse (gold ring on tail), but G was adamant she wanted to sit down in the carriage. So carriage it was. She had a lot of fun.



Then we went to see the Enchanted Tales with Belle. Another one of our favorites. G didn’t volunteer for anything, but she had lots of fun meeting Belle again.



Then we met Tiana and Rapunzel. Nothing of note really happened with Tiana. But during G’s meeting with Rapunzel she realized that Rapunzel’s dress didn’t have the charm on it like G’s did. It seemed to really throw G off.













Then we rode on Dumbo, because what Disney vacation could be complete without it. We didn’t move up and down, because G didn’t want to. Afterwards, we headed to the train in fantasyland and caught it to take us to the front. We exited the train and headed back to AKL.

We all had chicken sweet potato stew (another crockpot meal) for dinner. Everyone headed back to the community room, and I headed to bed at 7:43pm. This was much later than I normally would have gone to sleep the night prior to WDW marathon, but because of the 11 hours of sleep the night prior I was fine with a little less sleep. This was it… the marathon!

Amount of sleep night prior – 11:02
Number of Steps – 9,198
Number of miles covered – 4.8 miles

Next Post: Sunday, January 8th – Marathon and DHS: Part 1

Edit to add: During this day I also followed the Western Australian Carb Loading Procedure in advance of the marathon. Here is a previous explanation of the method.